The Lore of Liu An and the Authorship of the Huainanzi

This article provides an alternative approach to the issue of the Huainanzi's authorship by exploring how it was related to the Liu An lore emphasizing him as a talented writer. Beginning with a redefinition of the concept of the author in early Chinese literature, the article first examines how Liu An as the author of the Huainanzi functions as the key to our understanding of the text in previous scholarship. The article then moves to investigate the materials relied upon by previous scholarship in defining Liu An as the author of the Huainanzi. The investigation reveals the conflicting messages in different sources regarding when and how Liu An was hailed as a talented writer, what the neipian would likely be, and whether or not Liu An presented the Huainanzi to the Han court. Finally, this article examines the formation of the Liu An lore, in which he is portrayed as a prolific writer especially associated with esoteric writings of the time, and argues that it is this Liu An lore that has defined the Huainanzi's authorship.     

Van Gulik's The Lore of the Chinese Lute Revisited*

In this article I propose a critical examination of van Gulik's The Lore of the Chinese Lute (LCL) in respect to its bibliographical sources and consequent aesthetic contentions. Despite being arguably the first academic monograph on the ideology of qin and historically a major non-Chinese source for the study of qin in general, the LCL does not represent van Gulik's mature thinking on qin. The LCL is limited by objective circumstances surrounding its writing and flaws in van Gulik's bibliographical engagement. His study of the musicology of Yueji on the basis of inaccurate translation and a neglect of the Neo-Confucian reading of Yueji, his hypothesis of Daoist dominance and Buddhist or Indian influence in the practice of qin with mistaken evidence, his skepticism of the truth of the literati tradition with fundamental bibliographical flaws, all require reconsideration. The current lacuna in the critical investigation of the LCL not only urges contemporary researchers to continue where van Gulik left off, but also calls for new research projects on qin and Chinese literati music in general.     

The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection in Satanic Cult Lore

The purpose of this paper is the study and analysis of a fairly widespread false idea. I mean to take seriously one of these shreds of lore that are by and large known to everyone, and try to understand the traits that make it seductive and convincing. It seems to me that the main problem set by false ideas is that they are rooted in the collective consciousness.

The false idea chosen as an example asserts that the image of the murderer is retained on a victim's retina after death and can be retrieved through photography. In tribute to Edgar Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, I have chosen to designate this assertion as “The Tell-Tale Eye.” Our journey through this false idea will lead us towards a legend built around a technical process, that of photography, but also towards the seductiveness of a magical thought, in which it is the victim's own body that accuses the murderer.     

Wildmen on the Cyberfrontier: The Computer Geek as an Iteration in the American Wildman Lore Cycle

This paper argues that the image of the computer geek that took shape around the turn of the twenty-first century borrowed elements from earlier American constructions of the wildman. In particular, the geek, like prior wildmen, compressed ideas about four conflicting values: liberty and danger, authenticity and fakery.     

Baptism and Burial in a Gypsy Family of the Sacromonte

LES PÉTROGLYPHES DE L'ILE DE PÁQUES. By H. LAVACHERY. Vol. I: text, pp. 140; Vol. II: 80 Plates, Map and Frontispiece. De Sikkel, Antwerp, 1939. Review by Alan S. C. Ross.

ENGLAND'S DANCES by DOUGLAS KENNEDY. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1949. 7s. 6d. Review by V. A.

MANUEL DE FOLKLORE FRANÇAIS CONTEMPORAIN. By A. VAN GENNEP. Tome Ier. iv. Cérémonies Périodiques Cycliques ; 2, Cycle de Mai, La St. Jean. 19 maps. Pp. xix, 1422–2135. (1949). Paris. Editions A. &; J. Picard &; Cie., 82 Rue Bonaparte. Review by P. J. Heather.

HINDUISM. By A. C. BOUQUET. Hutchinsons University Library, London. Pp. 171. Price 7s. 6d. Review by F. Harold Smith.

Seven volumes of the Whitbread Library, 1947-8-9. Published and issued by Messrs. Whitbread and Co., London, E.C.I. Price 5s. each. Review by L. F. Newman.     

解读"井"的学问--读《中国的井文化》

世间有各种各样用途和形制的井,而水井,自古以来是人们须臾无法离开的,一旦没有了水井,人们的生命就会受到威胁。而如今在城市里生活的人,通常吃的水是水龙头里流出来的“自来水”(实际上并非“自来”,吸取自江河之水者有之,吸取自井水者亦有之),对于他们(特别是青少年)来说,吃水的水井,大概是比较陌生的事物了。但我敢说,在我国的大部分农村里,水井却依然是人们生存的必需之物。     

The Administration of the Royal Society

Abstract

After more than 300 years of continuous existence in London, the Royal Society and its 840 Fellows have achieved a worldwide reputation for scientific excellence. This arises not only from their individual prestige and eminence, but also from the superb manner in which the affairs of the Society itself are administered. Here the author is able to reveal some of the reasons for this success, proceeding in an analytical, rather than a critical, approach, describing the Fellowship, the Council, the scientific activities, the publications and the Society's role in international scientific affairs amongst other aspects.     

The Tranquebarian Society

The Danish-Norwegian colony of Tranquebar in south-east India is a little explored case of science and ‘patriotic enlightenment’ in the colonial world of the 18th and early 19th centuries. In the period 1768–1813, Tranquebar emerged as a local south Indian hub of science and improvement. The symbol of this development was the establishment of the Tranquebarian Society, the third learned society east of the Cape of Good Hope. The article examines the unique assemblage of scientific networks, people, instruments, institutions, and ideas of local and global origin that converged in Tranquebar, and it investigates the fusion of local problems and radical ideas of enlightenment, education, and improvement that united government, mission, and merchants in Tranquebar in the quest for ‘useful knowledge’.     

民俗学研究的想象力与洞察力——从《农耕技术民俗的传承与变迁研究》一书谈起

本文以《农耕技术民俗的传承与变迁研究》一书为对象,将其置于中国民俗学的学术脉络中进行理解,并发掘其中彰显的学术创新意义。在此基础上,提出当代民俗学研究可以运用以下想象力来丰富研究视域:发现俗民生活世界的结构与意义;洞悉变迁社会中的民俗传承本质;立足于民俗社会并反观社会变迁。